


Backstitch & Backtrack

by polandspringz



Series: Designing in Devildom [1]
Category: Shall We Date?: Obey Me!
Genre: (Cause Asmodeus is a focus here), F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Sexual Harassment, Original Female Character(s) - Freeform, POV Original Female Character, Sexual Harassment, female main character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-04
Updated: 2020-08-04
Packaged: 2021-03-06 00:14:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,012
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25704175
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/polandspringz/pseuds/polandspringz
Summary: When the human exchange student arrived, Lucifer didn't prepare for her arrival as well as he thought. It wasn't just that he had stripped a fashion designer from their glamorous life, it was that he had forgotten to buy them any clothes at all.The start of a series chronicling my MC, Poland, as she survives Devildom.
Relationships: Asmodeus & Main Character (Shall We Date?: Obey Me!), Lucifer & Main Character (Shall We Date?: Obey Me!), Main Character & Mammon (Shall We Date?: Obey Me!)
Series: Designing in Devildom [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1864159
Comments: 8
Kudos: 72





	Backstitch & Backtrack

**Author's Note:**

> This is a break away from my usual form of writing for the fandom, but I've been wanting to write something centered around my MC for a while. I know the name Poland is a little strange to read, so I hope it doesn't cause too much of a distraction in the piece. I didn't sleep at all last night, and decided around 4AM to walk to my computer and type this up instead of working on my other Obey Me fics. Anyway, this is entirely self-indulgent, but I hope you enjoy!

It all exploded when Asmo finally got a hand up their uniform skirt, his teasing expression faltering the moment he came in contact with the worn fabric.

“Oh, darling,” he cooed, “There has got to be something better than that for you to wear.”

Poland’s ears burned bright red as their eyes went wide with fear and embarrassment. All the brothers in the room turned their heads to the couch, and even Lucifer looked up from his newspaper towards the previously rough-housing two. Asmo had jumped on Poland the moment he saw her unguarded from one of his brothers, playfully pinning them down and sliding his hand up their thigh and around their ass when it had eventually slipped under the hem of her skirt. He normally didn’t mind being so bold, but regret quickly flickered over his face as he saw tears spring to the girl’s eyes.

A pillow was smashed into his face, “It’s not my fault I barely have anything to wear!” Poland screamed as they scrambled out from underneath Asmo. She rushed out of the room and towards the stairs, but ran into Beelzebub who was in the doorway. He tried to place a steady hand on her, but she fought against it and tried to shove through. Lucifer stood up from his reading chair as Asmo’s head popped up over the back of the couch.

“Beel, don’t let her leave,” Lucifer said, striding past the couch. She stopped struggling and resigned herself to shaking underneath Beel’s touch on her shoulders, her head bowed as the embarrassment bled from her face through tears, “Poland, what did Asmo mean by that?”

It wasn’t the first time the topic had come up. It had been the little things.

Poland had been in Devildom for about three weeks now. For the most part, she had adapted to the exchange student life well, although that was just what Diavolo and Lucifer had _seen._ Internally, focusing wholly on the academics and studying was a good distraction from being ripped from her home and stuffed inside a strange realm full of demons threatening to kill her every minute she was without her guardian, Mammon. The two of them were still struggling to get along, and being with someone so stingy and money-obsessed meant there was no way she was going to get a few Grimm out of him.

Which was how Poland ended up in this situation to begin with. Mainly, she had only been given the RAD uniform upon arriving, with the clothes on her back, which left her with a very limited wardrobe. She had been snatched from the human world when she was finishing up a fashion event, which meant she did not have the most practical outfit on. For the most part, she lived in her school uniform, having modified the pieces with a needle and thread she found inside an empty classroom at the end of the first day. The extra fabric she cut off she had hastily turned into whatever she could, but without access to little things like elastic, buttons, and ribbon, she had ended up with some very poorly constructed shorts, a small skirt, and undergarments.

But hey, she had tried to reason, even as her hands shook as she struggled to come to terms with the fact that this was not a dream, as blood trickled out of her finger from when the needle had poked it and blossomed pain, at least she had _something._

When she had gotten home to the House of Lamentation the first night, she tried to be cautious in what she swiped. She was never good at mending things or upcycling fabrics as much as she strived to be, and she didn’t know how Lucifer would feel if he noticed an entire bedspread was missing, so she tried to be safe about cutting up things in a place that was not _her home._ She worked tirelessly through the night making some other essentials out of a sheet (some pajamas, a hair tie), and then eventually passed out from exhaustion. When she was rudely awoken the next morning by Mammon, she was still in her uniform, which only earned her a brief comment about why she turned the pants into shorts, and why she was so wrinkled.

She didn’t know how the demons would take to her stealing something, so she wove the needle into the lining of the jacket, and hid the spool in her makeshift bra. It was running out of thread.

She was thankfully given some money by Lucifer on the second day for any essentials they failed to prepare, and while at first elated, she was quickly met with the harsh reality of how high priced Devildom clothing was. (Not to mention the worry about how the flashy fabrics had only been tested on demon skin and not human skin. Sure it felt like cotton, but the label said it was designed for fiery souls and Poland wasn’t sure how literal that was and wasn’t about to risk it). Instead, she got inspired by the small craft store and decided that at least if she couldn’t afford fabric, she could afford to accessorize. She bought a headband and built some small horns to attach, painting them with sparkling paint and stealing some screws from her bedframe to affix.

While she originally got a good laugh out of seeing Lucifer annoyed by what she deemed a _necessary purchase,_ in hindsight it was a terrible idea because afterwards he remarked about how she obviously couldn’t be trusted with money. She almost dropped her spoon in the soup hearing that, as her terrible socks scratched her legs as she nervously rubbed them together under the table. What made it worse was Lucifer denied her from applying for jobs too, saying it was too dangerous without anyone to keep an eye on her.

Although she had never grasped laundry in the human world, at the very least, the machines in the demon world were somewhat easier, and she _had_ to adapt. She sat in front of the machines for hours only to come pull the load out and panic when she saw how her clothes had frayed or shrunk. It was only week one and she already felt she was running out of options, and the thought of asking Lucifer to go to the human world to buy her _panties_ sent her into a spiraling anxiety fit that she sat on the floor of her shower and just cried until dinner. She didn’t even have much in the way of _soap._

Then, it was the comments about her looking _indecent._

With limited options, eventually Poland had to throw her uniform in the washing machine at the end of week one. She swapped into the pajama set she had made, a pair of shorts and a tank top with the leftover sheet around her shoulders like some sort of shawl, and waited in the laundry room for the cycle to finish. Lucifer walked by and the way his eyes glared up and down made her shiver, but she masked it with a neutral expression just tinged by anger. (She could always blame her anger on tiredness, without it seeming rude, she reasoned) He stopped and made a sharp tongued remark along the lines of-

“Do you really feel right prancing about like that? This is a house of six men, you realize.”

She wanted nothing more than to die on the spot, but also take the needle outside of her jacket and stab him with it. A mixture of the two. She couldn’t come up with a remark, so she just stared at Lucifer until he walked away.

Then, with dawning horror, she rushed to open the washer, discovering she had almost broken it by leaving her needle inside the jacket. The washer continued to run fine, but the needle was gone. Every day, MC feared that it would eventually sputter and break, and she would have to endure another lecture from the eldest, and get interrogated on why she had such a thing.

Which is why _now_ she felt his gaze to be all the more heavy and oppressive, and wanted nothing more than to curl up and die.

“Asmo,” Satan asked, from across the room, “What did you mean by that?”

“Well, I felt under her skirt, and before you all beat me to death because of that, I just thought the panties she’s wearing feel like they're about to fall off.”

_“Asmo!”_ She hissed, hands tightening into fists as she tried once more to get passed Beel, but he didn’t budge. At least, Poland heard the brothers spasm a bit at the fifth-born’s remark. She took some pride in knowing that they, including Lucifer, were shocked by the bluntness. She couldn’t take pride in feeling the way all their eyes shot to the back of her thighs, right where the edge of her skirt and coat met.

“They didn’t even feel like real clothes. I’ve seen all kinds of lingerie in my time, but they’re practically threadbare, and completely the wrong material. I don’t know how she’s comfortable.”

“I had to work with what I had!” She squeaked out, before collapsing to the floor and covering her face with her hands, “I came here with nothing and none of you were going to help me out!”

The silence in the room was palpable. Lucifer cleared his throat before saying anything.

“Ahem, Poland, did I not give you Grimm to supply yourself with… _things_ when you first got here?”

“It wasn’t enough,” her voice was muffled by her hands, “I couldn’t afford anything.”

Mammon stepped forward then, “Is that why you modified your uniform?”

“Now that you mention it,” Asmo said, “ _they_ did feel sort of like the rest of her clothes. I thought you simply were doing that to lash out against Lucifer and express yourself as a designer.”

“Where did you even get the tools to do so?” Lucifer asked, “If you couldn’t afford clothes then you couldn’t have afforded a sewing machine-”

“I stole a needle and thread from RAD. I did it by hand,” she confessed, “I lost the needle in the washing machine though.”

Another beat passed without anyone saying anything, and Beel shifted back to give her space. However, it was then that she heard shuffling along the carpet, and felt Lucifer’s gloved hand settle over her shoulder.

“Why didn’t you ask me if you needed something? It is my job to make sure your needs are accounted for and-”

She cut him off by whipping her tear stained face around to shout at him, “How the fuck was I supposed to ask you to buy me a bra, Lucifer?!”

And without Beel to block the way, Poland sprinted out of the room.

MC reached their room swiftly, slamming the door closed and bolting it as they dashed to the bathroom, locking the door there too. Slumping down against the tile floor, she began to sob loudly as all the shame and anger boiled over and fizzled out inside.

She could never face them again, she thought. Not after Asmo had tried to feel her up and then embarrassed her in front of the entire household. Knowing Lucifer, he would report the incident to Diavolo, and soon Barbatos, Simeon, the entire Purgatory Hall and maybe even the whole school would know about it.

A part of her acknowledged the absurdity of the entire demonic realm learning about this singular moment, but the rational brain was squashed in favor of the overwhelming panic and frustration that was drowning her. She wanted to go home. She was sick of it here. She was tired of wearing patchworked together clothes and wanted to just go to a store and pick out something nice. Hell, she wanted a simple sewing machine, just something to let her make her life somewhat normal again. She would pay for it herself if necessary, she just wanted to be able to get a job and make things again. A sketchbook, some markers. She knew she sounded greedy, but at the same time, she had to wonder if that was too much to ask? They had ripped her from her life just as it was peaking, just as she was starting to make a name for herself in the fashion world, and now she was stuck without _anything_ in a dangerous realm for a whole year.

She was nineteen years old, dammit.

She wanted to go home.

* * *

It was long after her sobs subsided, and the brothers had stopped hearing them through the walls of the house. Lucifer stood outside the bedroom door, tapping his foot frustratedly as Satan worked to pick the lock on the door. They had considered just breaking it down, but decided that would only frighten their housemate more, so they had settled to let Satan try his skills he learned from numerous crime novels. It was going well, _supposedly._

They eventually broke the lock, only to find MC was hidden behind another one, and so, Satan went to work again while Lucifer scoped out the room. Anger brewed inside at himself when he realized how little he had actually prepared for the exchange student. It was easy to see they were missing a few sheets, and had stashed the cut up, leftover fabric in the dresser drawers, which were practically empty save for two or three handmade pieces of clothing. An empty spool rattled inside the drawer when it shut. Lucifer slammed it closed just as Satan broke open the bathroom one.

Asmodeus pressed his hand to his cheek as he glanced about the room with a sigh.

“Oh, they could use some better curtains, and the vanity would look so good decorated with lights. I see they don’t have any beauty creams, I’ll have to recommend them some and-”

“Asmo,” Lucifer growled out his brother’s name as he hands fished his wallet out of his pocket and picked the credit card out of one of the slots, “I can trust you to find some clothes that will do for now? I understand later on we might have to get them clothes that more suit their… taste, but can you at least get the basics?”

Asmo plucked the card from Lucifer’s hand, “Of course! I’ll have to measure her to get her sizes though!”

“Hey! She sews and shit, she can just tell you that,” Mammon said, shoving Asmo away as he tried to barge into the bathroom, “You’re not getting a chance to fondle her after what you just did!”

Lucifer looked deep in thought as he ignored the shouting of his brothers.

“Yes… She sews. I’ll have to place an order for a machine, and whatever supplies she would need. Would it be better to get her machine from the human realm, or buy her an entirely new one?”

“Hey,” Satan said, emerging from the bathroom with Poland in his arms, “She fell asleep crying it seems.”

“Just lay her on the bed,” Lucifer directed as he searched Akuzon on his phone, “Wait. We need to buy her new sheets. Can you bring her back downstairs? I’m going to do express shipping on a few things right now.”

“Hey!” Mammon shouted as he darted out of the bathroom, “Either she’s really good at hiding it, or you forgot to buy her some toiletries too!”

Lucifer bit the inside of his cheek and clicked his tongue. Lest he admit it, he forced the shame and anger at himself for missing such obvious details down and instead motioned for Levi and Beel in, and began assigning tasks.

“We can’t get this all done tonight, but we all certainly need to start making up for our mistakes.”

“What do you mean ‘our’, Lucifer? Wasn’t it your job to gather these things?” Mammon asked. Lucifer shot him a glare.

“If I recall, _you_ were assigned their guardian. _You_ should have noticed that things were missing and brought it to my attention right away. Therefore, this is a collective, household problem that needs immediate attention. Now, Levi, I want you to research the types of machines that designers use. We need not buy one just yet until we ask her, but I want to at least have one on standby. Beel, I want you to go to RAD and pick up a new uniform for Poland. I’ll message Diavolo about the situation.”

“Woah, you’re going to tell Diavolo that you screwed up?” Levi gasped.

“Of course not,” Lucifer aggressively typed on his D.D.D with one hand as he brow furrowed more, “I’m simply going to say Poland’s uniform got damaged. I _trust_ none of you will speak a word of this error in judgement outside of this house.”

“But what if Poland says something?”

“Based on the fact she decided to be quiet about her lack of…”

“Everything,” Satan supplied as he returned to the room.

“Yes, everything, I doubt she will complain to Diavolo. If she was frightened enough of me to not ask, then surely she’s terrified of Lord Diavolo. As it should be. Now, off, I have given you your jobs, and before you ask, no Mammon. You cannot go with Asmo to Majolish. I don’t trust you with my card.”

“No, I was just thinking, she’s asked you about a job before, right? If she’s into fashion, maybe she could get a job there? I’m there enough for modeling, so I can keep an eye on her if needed.”

Lucifer mulled it over as he walked out of the room, “Perhaps. Gather more information and present it to me tomorrow. Asmodeus, you are _not_ under any circumstances allowed to let Mammon touch my card, understood?”

“Roger!” Asmo chirped before bolting down the stairs and out of the house. Mammon cursed him as he ran after him, transforming briefly to soar down the levels and catch up. Levi and Beelzebub scurried out of the bedroom after, Levi ducking in his room down the hall, and Beel hopping outside the window to fly towards RAD. Satan stuck behind, keeping close to Lucifer as he wrung his hands.

“What are we going to do?”

“I’m entrusting you to help rearrange the room as the packages arrive. The Little Ds should be delivering them in any minute. I’m going to go wait for them to wake, and then I will have a talk with them.”

* * *

Poland found themselves back in front of the common room, splayed out along the chaise by the window. It took them a moment to sit up and find their D.D.D. to check the time (if the Devildom had a functional sky, the sunlight would be orange and yellow by now, disappearing behind the mountains that boarded up the horizon line beyond the House of Lamentation). It was around 6PM, and Poland felt shitfaced. Not that she had ever drank before, but from the migraine that was stabbing her skull, she felt that she had come pretty close to the feeling one might have after waking up plastered.

She swung her legs over the side of the chaise, just taking a moment to breathe and process the designs woven into the old rug before a voice splintered through her head.

“I see you’re up. I believe we need to have a conversation.”

Poland slowly looked up, catching sight of Lucifer in the chair across from them. He folded his newspaper up and stood up, walking over towards them. Suddenly, the memories from earlier came back, and Poland’s brain snapped into panic mode once more.

“You broke into my room and moved me back downstairs? What do you want? To humiliate me more?” She hissed, keeping her head bowed.

“I wanted to apologize to you.”

Poland’s head jerked up, eyes wide with disbelief.

Lucifer looked uncertain. He reached up and rubbed the back of his neck and glanced away.

“I completely overlooked the majority of your basic needs here, and refused to listen to you when you tried to bring up your concerns to me. Mammon will also be giving you an apology soon, for not having noticed and helped, and Asmo is to draft one for harassing you today, although without such an incident, I likely would have never known about the… issues.”

Poland just blinked at him, “Um… Thank you? I guess. Sorry, I just… I have a headache and would very much like to just go back to my room. We can sort these things out tomorrow. I think I’m just going to turn in early for the night.”

“Very well, but would you not like us to remedy this by offering to purchase you some new clothes? You aren’t going to sleep in your uniform again, are you?”

“Uh, I mean, I have pajamas I’ve made. And I guess it would be appreciated if you gave me money for a few things, but, again, I just want to go to sleep. We can talk in the morning.”

Poland didn’t want to address the fact that Lucifer was lowkey freaking them out with how nice he was being, despite his serious, factual tone of delivery. She watched him as he moved towards the base of the stairs as they reached the top, and hurriedly she fled further to her room as she saw his gloved hand brush the banister.

_Was he going to follow her?_

She rushed to her door, flinging it open fast and was about to turn around and slam it shut when she froze at the sight of her room’s interior.

The rest of the household was waiting inside her room, seated on the floor, bed, and chairs at the back table. They all looked up when she walked in. There was a very obvious difference in the ambiance of the place, now illuminated with fairy lights around the tree growing behind the bed. Asmo was sitting in front of a large rack of clothes he had wheeled in, and the lights reflected off the metal bars of the rack and onto the shimmering clothing on the hangers. However, her eyes quickly zeroed in on the object sitting on the table between Mammon and Levi, and a squeal escaped her mouth as she darted forward, just as Lucifer stepped in behind her.

“You got my sewing machine?!” She gasped as she hugged the machine, heaving it off the table as she embraced it. Lucifer let out a chuckle at the thump that resounded when they dropped it back down. (She was a professional, he trusted that she knew how to not break it.)

“Yes. I debated about buying you a new one, but I figured it would be for the best if we went to the human world and collected the one you were used to. However-”

“A new one is coming too,” Levi said, pulling up the order on his D.D.D., “I found an embroidery machine and a… serger? Listed and thought you could use them too. It’s faster than that hand sewing you were doing, right? You didn’t have those before, right?”

“And hey, don’t forget about me!” Asmo said, spinning the rack around to face you as he stood up, “Lucifer told me to only buy essentials until we knew what you wanted, but I had a look through your fashion designs back in the human world-”

Satan waved a stack of booklets and sketchbooks Poland instantly recognized.

“-And picked up some things I _knew_ you would love. I also ordered you a ton of beauty products!”

“I got you a new uniform,” Beel said, gesturing to what was hung on the back of your door, “I don’t know if you want to keep wearing the one you’ve been, but at least you have a new one to play around with.”

Poland stepped forward and flipped through the items on the rack, touching the fabric on each one. There were holographics, leathers, some fuzzy fabrics, and some stylized jeans. Internally, she was crying about how _perfect_ they were, but externally she was just staring wide eyed, stuck in a loop of rubbing the fabric between her fingers as she stared at a fuzzy bell sleeved blouse.

“Yo, I think we broke the human,” Mammon cackled from where he sat, and Satan slapped him on the arm to shut him up

“I… Thank you,” Poland whispered finally, “All of you. Thank you.”

“Oh, and I also bought you some cute panties! I figured tomorrow we could go shopping for lingerie sets after school and-”

Poland spun the rack around and slammed the metal pole into Asmo, sending him flying back and clutching his nose in mock hurt.

“Alright, alright. We’ll talk about it,” she said, “I really appreciate it, but if I’m to properly enjoy your gifts, I need you all the leave so I can take a shower and get changed.”

The brothers all stood up and made their way to the door, Levi and Mammon moving faster as blushes spread across their faces at the thought of the human _getting undressed,_ but Asmo just grabbed ahold of her hands and lovingly stared into her eyes, trying to charm her once more.

“Oh, darling. We don’t have to leave, we can all _join_ you for a shower, or a bath, or if you get changed we can-”

“Alright, Asmo,” Satan grabbed his brother by the sleeve and tugged him along, “You still have to apologize for your behavior later, remember that.”

“Of course! But that doesn’t mean I can’t-!”

Lucifer shut the door on Asmo before he could continue. However, he closed the door so that he was still _inside the room_ with Poland.

“Um, Lucifer, I need you to leave too if I am going to get changed.”

“I am aware of that. I just wanted to… clarify something.”

Poland kept their hand on the side of the rack as they flicked through the clothing hangers again absentmindedly, “Okay? Shoot.”

Lucifer folded his arms and took a deep breath, “I was wondering if you were going to report this error to Diavolo.”

She frowned, “Um… No? Why would he want to hear about some trivial dispute?”

Lucifer looked aghast, “You are an exchange student and I failed in my duties to provide for you. It is my fault that you went weeks without proper supplies and-”

“Okay, okay, hold on. If you want me to report it so you can get some sort of punishment, I guess I will? I thought you were a sadist, but maybe I had pegged you wrong. But I mean, you obviously made up for everything, so I see no need to report anything. Maybe Asmo’s sexual harassment, but I doubt much can be done about that.”

Lucifer winced, “I will do my best to reign him in more.”

“Wonderful. Thank you.”

Lucifer still was standing there, not saying anything. Poland circled her hand forward to try and speed him along. She was trying to be polite, but her headache was still pounding, and she wanted to go in the shower and change into _good_ clothes finally.

“Anything else?”

“Oh, yes. Mammon said if you applied at Majolish, he would be able to keep an eye on you there, so if you were looking for a job, I would accept you working there. It is a fashion store, so it should be to your benefit.”

“Alright.”

He was still standing there. Poland motioned again.

“I noticed… I looked through your files again while you were asleep. Levi and Asmo enlightened me to the fact that you do an activity… cosplay, was it? Your hair is often a different color.”

That got a giggle out of her, thinking about how much of an old person Lucifer acted like, “Yes, Lucifer. It’s cosplay. Are you offering to buy me a wig?”

“Majolish sells some. If you wanted me to purchase one or two for you before you had money of your own, I would be willing.”

They grinned, “Alright then. If you buy me two wigs, I promise I won’t tell Diavolo a word of what happened today, deal?”

He nodded, “That is agreeable to me.”

Poland groaned, “Oh my god, now I understand why people always complained when I talked like that. You don’t sound smarter, you just sound like a jerk.”

Lucifer seemed taken aback by that, but Poland strode forward and quickly spun him around and pushed him out of the room.

“Okay, thank you so much, but I have a date with the shower I must really attend to. I’ll see you all at dinner, if my headache is gone-”

“I can get you some medicine if you require-”

“-Yes that would be wonderful! Now, goodbye!” She yelled as she slammed the door in his face.

Lucifer stood there for a moment, gaping like a fish, ready to knock again and ask another question, before he pulled his hand away and stepped back, walking away. He brought one hand up to his face to cover the blush creeping across it as the warmth from their hands lingered on his back. On the inside, Poland listened with their ear against the door until he was gone, and then sucking in a big gulp of air, released a loud scream as she pumped a fist in the air and charged the sewing machine.

“Forget the shower, I have a date with you,” she said, fishing the torn up fabric scraps and grabbing some thread and a bobbin from the accessory case, the machine snapped and popped as her hands fluttered over it with speed and expertise until the fabric scrap was under the needle, and her foot pressed down on the pedal, just as she popped the gear out on the side again.

“I’ve been three weeks out of practice… Can’t have those guys in the human world having me beat by the time I get back…”

**Author's Note:**

> In terms of my MC using my online alias, when she got to Devildom, she requested to be referred to by Poland to help create a sort of disconnect between treating the demon realm as reality. I have a few short ideas planned to make this into a series, and hopefully eventually as she becomes more comfortable in her new life here, she'll let the brothers call her by her real name? Only time will tell... and whether I get around to writing that too, lol.


End file.
